RED CROSS KNITTING.

Auckland Star, Volume XLIX, Issue 148, 22 June 1918, Page 16

RED CROSS KNITTING.

Miss Nancy Thompson, the Melbourne artist, who was painting in Auckland for some time, writing to a friend in the city, mentions the kind of work that is being done by the Bed Cross in Sydney. An appeal has been made for 100,000 pairs of socks before the end of this month. Last time the same appeal was made 125,000 were sent in. Describing the Red Cross rooms, she says they are lined from floor to ceiling with socks. She had seen large rooms lined with 'books previously, but never one lined I with socks. All the sorting is done by measurement. If they ar enot wide enough at the top they have to be snipped and sewn over. There are generally about fifty workers each day, sometimes seventy, some coming all the time, others only a day or two a week. The writer was very interested in the knitting of socks direct from the sheep's back as it were. They use crossbred, as merino is too soft. The workers are given a bag of wool, and take it home and wash it. When dry they pull it out in a strand and knit it into socks. It is not quite as quick a way as with spun wool, but it takes time to learn to spin, while this -method is cheap. A pair of socks can be knitted for 1/3 a pair, while with spun wool they cost 3/6. This method is being taken advantage of by the women in the country, where they can get wool on their own farms. The lady who showed Miss Thompson the work said she could knit a sock in a day, and she was an old lady from the country. Then they dye the wool with Nyola, gum leaves, or the brown skins of onions. Demonstrations have been given publicly in Melbourne of this method, and as many of our readers who live in the country may wish to try it, we give the directions, taken from a J Melbourne paper: — i First take a piece of fleece as little ' tousled as possible, and lay it on the knee. Comb out the dirty ends first with any old comb or a blade from a shearing machine; then comb the cut ends. Next gently pull out a strand, which when twisted will give the thickness required. Pull out a yard or so at a time, and remember that it is easier to thin it out afterwards than to thicken it. Give the end a good twist, cast on and knit in the usual way, but give the thread a twist between each stitch. -When finished, wash the article in several waters. No one with a cut hand should work with greasy wool without having the cut well protected. Crossbred is, of course, better than merino wool to work with, and black or grey crossbred is best of all, as it requires no dyeing. Walnut leaves make a very good dye, but as these cannot be had all the year round, dye may bo made from rosemary or from gum leaves.